UPDATE: another egg (that makes two!) this morning, and new greenery adorning the nest.

This is too good not to share. During our special “Spring” call-in Tuesday, Curt Stager and I heard of early season sightings of Great Blue Herons along the St. Lawrence River. Then our friend Mimi reported her first GBH sighting on her way back to Potsdam from answering phones at the fundraiser here.

Curt and I talked about how we weren’t sure when they really get to their mass rookeries to lay eggs and raise a family. I’ve watched a rookery from a distance, but, you know, what happens up in those Dr. Suess-like settings is pretty mysterious.

And THEN, I check my e-mail and the great people at the Cornell Ornithology Lab report herons with an egg in a nest where they’ve got a live webcam stream set up. It’s in a big dead white oak at their Sapsucker Woods site.

I love it…watching the wind blowing through the heron’s feathers as he/she? stands over the one egg. Two camera angles…and SOUND. Right now! Live!

Where I work someone I know shot one for eating fish out of their pond. Can you believe it it’s true, it’s against the law but up here, everybody’s afraid to report things due to backlash . I am so glad to see this family doing fine.

Gorgeous. . . just what I need: another beautiful bird to watch! I’m a big fan of owls, and right now I’m watching Mel and Sydney, Barn Owls in Oceanside, CA on USTREAM. Can’t get enough. Here’s the link to the inside cam: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/owlceanside But beware! You won’t stop until they fledge.

The consensus was another egg sunday eve, 5:30ish.
They have started to get serious about staying on the eggs now and take turns nesting and collecting sticks.
They maxed out at four eggs last year and years before.
First hatching will begin around the end of april.
After the female laid the second egg, the male flew back to the nest with a forsythia branch, i kid you not.

There isn’t any backlash just report what you know here, you don’t have to give your name. Don’t let people get away with that sort of thing:

TIPP DEC is a 24-hour telephone hotline that is also referred to as Turn in Poachers and Polluters. It is answered by live dispatchers. The TIPP phone number is 1-800-TIPP DEC (1-800-847-7332). Callers may request to file a complaint anonymously.

Don’t tell anyone…I have the sound up pretty much all day in my office. I love hearing the natural world. And I can check what’s going on when there’s a honk or two as one of the herons arrives with a new stick, or they change places, or whatever.
I think it’ll be lovely to see as spring foliage emerges around the pond. This make me want a viewing platform of my own.